Children are enchanted by the twinkling stars in their night sky. Often one of the first songs we teach them, and that they then love to sing over and over, is "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." This early connection between the music and words of this familiar old song and the actual lights above them is the beginning of understanding the vastness of our universe. These introductory conversations about the night sky should eventually lead them to beginning astronomy studies.
This lesson plan is designed to introduce your student or students to a basic beginning understanding of what astronomy is and why it is an important and interesting science to study. It is appropriate for grade levels 3-8, depending upon prior knowledge and interest level of student.
Lesson Plan Purpose: Introduction to Astronomy
The objective of this science lesson plan is to introduce the concepts of space, our solar system, galaxies and other celestial objects. Students will learn about the importance of space technology and space education. Students will use various space related activities to explore the basic concepts and to demonstrate their acquired knowledge. Students will use a variety of text and online resources to explore the subject matter presented throughout this lesson plan.
Lesson Objectives:
Students will be able to define astronomy and solar system. They will be able to recognize and name the planets and bodies of our solar system
Students will be able to define what a galaxy is and define how our solar system is part of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Students will be able to identify three galaxy forms and recreate them graphically
Students will use math skills to graph distances between celestial objects like moon and planets, our solar system and others, between galaxies. This skill will help them comprehend the scope and immense size of the universe.
Students will understand the concept of the universe and how galaxies fit together in that concept.
Students will recognize constellations and be able to identify from sight familiar constellations in Earth's night sky.
First Activity: Defining Astronomy
At Astronomy for Kids Online, students can explore the basic definitions of what astronomy is. Astronomy is commonly defined as the scientific study of the universe and celestial bodies especially their positions and movements as viewed through various astronomical instruments such as the naked eye, binoculars and telescopes of all sizes and magnification.
Vocabulary for Activity 1:Solar system, galaxies, Suns / stars, comets, and constellations.
Have students look at photos of each of these objects. You can find photos online or in some of the good astronomy books available at the library or for purchase.I recommend FACTfinders Outer Space with CD-ROM by Harry Ford and Kay Barnham. It has very clear direct information, great photos and is a good beginning astronomy book to use in your study. The CD Rom that comes with the book is interactive and has lots of additional information.
From the book that you choose or the online sites you visit, have your student write out the definitions for the Vocabulary Words and make sure they understand and can identify each of the items.
Activity 2:Make a model of our solar system and do an exercise to comprehend the enormous distances between planets and celestial bodies.
. Every child loves to recreate the solar system, I know I did. . This activity allows the student to see the scale size between our planet earth and all the other planets. You can print out to scale planet copies from At Home Astronomy.
While this planet model allows students to compare the size of the planets somewhat..my favorite planetary exercise is described at this website. It will take an afternoon of fun for you and your students to recreate this scale model, but once you do it, it will help you comprehend the huge vast size of our solar system as you have never have before.
Basically by assigning real objects to represent the relative size of each planet in the solar system and the sun, and then going outdoors and placing them at their scale distance from the sun you will be able to begin to envision how very large it all is. This exercise is essential in my mind for the student and you, the teacher to do in your beginning study of astronomy.
Size and scope of the scale of the Solar System Activity
Activity 3: What are Galaxies
After exploring the size and scope of our Solar System, students can begin to grapple with the concept of a galaxy. At History.com, students can view the Universe videos covering the basic cosmology of star creation and galaxies.
The site has beautiful Hubble photos of immense galaxies and attempts to explain the concept of galaxies. But for basic understanding of a young child, the best way to explain Galaxies, is the have your student understand that a galaxy is of millions of solar systems. Size is the concept to be understood, the immense size of the universe and then of each galaxy, including our own Milky Way, and then all the millions of other galaxies in the universe.
Galaxies can be classified into various types and beginning astronomy students should be able to know what type of galaxy the Milky Way is and then perhaps identify by looking at the shapes, three basic shapes and types of galaxies.
They are elliptical galaxies, spiral galaxies (our Milky Way), and peculiar or irregular galaxies. You can find photos of each type of galaxy at this astronomy website. It's not a child's level, but the photos can be explored with you by their side or by an upper elementary or middle school student.
After briefly discussing the various types of galaxies and looking at some images from either online or from astronomy books from the library, show your child the Milky Way, our home galaxy. Again, trying to explain the concept of the immense size and millions and millions of stars and planets in the entire Milky Way is the key.
Drawing the Milky Way is one way we've attempted to explain this. By using large piece of black construction paper, and then recreating the Milky Way with grains of either colored sand or tiny beads that represent planets and solar systems, the students can begin to understand this concept and it makes a beautiful art project for the lesson. I usually provide a photo image of the Milky Way, explaining the spiral arm shapes and having students "look" at the photo from different angles to understand the "shape" of the Milky Way in the universe and in space.
Activity 4: Constellations
Learning to recognize and identify some of the familiar constellations of the sky can now begin to make sense to the student, as they now learn that those "shapes" in the sky, like the Big Dipper are actually galaxies and groups of stars that form the picture that we see, millions and millions of light years away from those stars.
One of the best ways I've discovered to explain and inform the student about constellations is the activity at Sloan Digital Sky Survey site. . It's thorough and fun and offers a real basic understanding of the concept of constellations.
As we learn about astronomy, one of the concepts we want to communicate is that ancient people used the stars for many things that we no longer do as ordinary people, such as guidance and myth. These ancient people didn't understand all the science that we have at our fingertips, but they knew the stars were an important part of their daily lives.
Additional Learning Objectives
After this introductory lesson students should be encouraged to explore other astronomical concepts and lesson plans including the following:
The History of Telescopes
The Science of Telescopes
The History of Astronomy
Famous Astronomers
The History of Space Flight and America's Role in Space Travel
Famous Astronauts
